Life in the Animal Kingdom
by Orange Ratchet
Summary: After taking a gender neutral animal quiz, upon learning the soul mates of each animal, Helga and Arnold begin to wonder about what life would be like in an animal version of Hillwood... Slight Arnold x Helga


All right, I got a brand new story I just thought about... another Hey Arnold story, I realize I make a lot of them, but I figured this would be a good story to do! Anyway, enjoy!

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It was a bright, sunny morning in Gerald Field as all the kids were gathered around. But, rather than playing a sport, they were gathered around one certain person... a certain rich girl, who was holding a fashion magazine in her hand, more specifically, her hand on one page whilst everyone had a copy of the same page in their hand.

"So, remind me WHY you want us to do this quiz?" Helga frowned. "Instead of, you know, trying to practice for baseball!"

"Well, Helga, when I saw this in my fashion magazine, my mind was starting to think about what sort of animal I would be related to... and figured I would share the experience with my friends." Rhonda smiled as she looked at everyone... including a smiling Curly, who she frowned at. "And... mere acquaintances."

"I get that part, but why did you give the quiz to the boys as well?" Helga frowned.

"This quiz was more gender neutral, and I figured I'd give you all a chance to take it. Just answer the questions as best you can, and give them to me. I'll look at each of them, and I'll check the animal results to see what you guys most likely represent." Rhonda smiled.

"I think this is actually a good idea." Arnold smiled as he pulled out a pencil. "I'm curious to see what animal I represent."

Helga laughed as she snarked, "Only you can support a mundane idea like that, Football Head."

But Helga's snark got outspoken as everyone started to smile, as they talked over each other. "I wonder what type of animal I would be!/I always was curious about what I would be re-incarnated as!/Come on, baby, give me an eagle!"

Helga shook her head as she looked at her quiz. "People these days..."

Helga sat down as she looked over her quiz and started reading them over. "Question One... on a scale of one to ten, how fit are you? Lazy, Buff or Balanced? Hmmm... I'll go balanced."

Helga checked the answer box off as she moved on to the next question. "Question Two... if you have an interest in a soulmate, how long would you want to spend time with that soulmate? One time, all the time, or can't make a commitment?"

Helga paused to think about it... she had half a mind to check 'can't make a commitment', but she knew it wasn't true. As far as she knew, she was making progress with befriending Arnold... so, with a small smile, she checked 'All the time'."

Helga paused as she read over the next question. "Favorite way to travel? Hmmm... eh, I suppose I could go with airplane."

Pretty much, Helga had read all the questions and answered them to the best of her abilities. As soon as she marked off the final question, she got up and handed the paper over to Rhonda. "I'm done. Feel free to analyze."

Rhonda gave a nod as everyone was getting up and handing their papers in as Rhonda smiled. "Thank you, thank you. Hang on while I double-check your answers, one at a time."

With that, Rhonda grabbed the first paper she had as she looked over. "Ah... Arnold, you first."

Everyone watched curiously as they watched Rhonda analyze the answers... and checking them over with the magazine... before smiling. "Ah... it does fit you to a T."

"So... what animal am I?" Arnold asked in curiosity.

"You're a Great Dane. A dog who's loyal, yet takes protection very seriously." Rhonda smiled.

Gerald smiled as he turned to Arnold. "That does make sense. You're loyal, and you are always willing to protect others."

Arnold paused. "Great Dane, hm?"

Rhonda smiled as she picked up another test... as she looked it over. "I can tell this is Harold's easily... and... hmmm..."

"What is it?" Harold asked, worried.

"Oh, it just says here that you're a Sloth." Rhonda said, making Harold frown.

"HEY!" Harold said.

"Now, now, being a sloth isn't actually a bad thing." Rhonda smiled. "According to this, Sloths have a tendency to be relaxed, and a bit slow on the uptake, but they can be very friendly creatures."

"Wow... that does sound nice..." Harold paused as he thought about it... but then frowned. "What do you mean, slow?"

"Okay... Phoebe's next." Rhonda said as she looked over the test and looked at the analysis. "Hmmm... well, well, well, this is interesting, yet not surprising."

"What's that?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, according to the quiz results, you're an Elephant." Rhonda said.

Phoebe smiled. "Oh! As in, they never forget?"

"That, and they tend to travel in groups." Rhonda chuckled. "Kinda like how you tend to stick to Helga."

"Oh... yeah, that could be a possibility." Phoebe sighed.

"What about me, what about me?" Sid asked.

Curly paused as he stepped next to Rhonda. "Hold up a second! My quiz! Let me check my results! I want to know more about my reincarnation!"

Curly then swiped the magazine from Rhonda as he started to look over the animals. "Ha ha! I could be... this thing right here!"

Curly pointed to the picture as everybody gathered around. Nadine blinked twice in confusion. "A kangaroo? Why would you want to be a kangaroo?"

"I always wanted to know what kangaroos can keep in their pouches, aside from their children." Curly smiled. "If I were a kangaroo, I could hide whatever I want in that pouch!"

"I hate to break your crazy reality, Curly... but male kangaroos don't have pouches." Lila pointed out. "Are you indicating you want to be born a female?"

Everyone chuckled at that as Curly's eyes widened from behind his glasses... before they narrowed. "Everyone likes you, so consider yourself spared from my wrath."

"If I may have my magazine back!" Rhonda frowned as she got up and swiped the magazine away from Curly. "Thank you. Curly, since I already have your quiz in my hands, I'll check your animal..."

Rhonda paused as she looked it over. "Hmmm... interesting. It seems that you are a..." Rhonda said as Curly looked over her shoulder as she pointed to a picture.

Curly gasped. "That? I'm a weasel?"

"That's right. An enigma, never knows what's on your mind... except, of course, if something bad happens." Rhonda explained.

Curly paused as he tapped his foot. "Hmmm... interesting... I never thought of myself as a weasel... and they steal chickens to eat, so... that totally fits!"

Rhonda shook her head as she grabbed the next paper. "Ah, Helga, this one is yours..."

"Just get it over with so we can get a baseball game played!" Helga frowned.

Rhonda looked over Helga's answers... then looked over the pictures... as her eyebrows raised up. "Oh, well, this is rare? According to this, Helga, your animal is a tiger."

"A tiger?" Helga raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yes, a tiger. You have the wit, and yet you have an inner thought about what you want to do with your life... strong, but sweet on the inside." Rhonda said as everyone looked to Helga in surprise.

Helga frowned as she looked around. "Oh, what? It's just a quiz, people! You can't take these things seriously!"

"Maybe so... but while I don't normally go into it... there are soul mates and conflict risers attached to each animal... in this case, the Tiger's Soul Mate is the Great Dane." Rhonda pointed out.

Everyone (but Helga) gasped as Arnold's eyes shrank. Helga just scoffed. "Like I said, a stupid quiz you're all taking too- wait, what was the Tiger's Soul Mate?"

"Great Dane. And that's Arnold's animal!" Lila said as she pointed to Arnold, much to Helga's surprise.

Everyone gave an 'ooo' at that response. Arnold, frowning, got up and said, "Guys, come on, Helga's right. It's only a gender neutral animal quiz. You can't take these things seriously. I mean, it could just be paired with anyone. Remember the marriage predictor Rhonda made?"

Rhonda paused. "Oh yes, I remember that. You have a point, Arnold. Besides, we know you and Helga ha- well, at least you two can't tolerate each other. Don't worry about it, everyone. I'll just finish up the animals and then we can move on to practice..."

Helga paused as she said, "Er, yeah, all right. Excuse me for a second, I need a moment alone."

Helga then got up as she went out of Gerald Field and hid in an alley to the side. She looked around... before smiling happily. "Thank you once again, destiny!"

The pink bow wearing girl gave a smile as she sat down, pausing to think. "So... me as a tiger... Arnold as a Great Dane... I wonder what that's like..."

Helga sighed happily as she felt herself daydreaming... wondering what an animal kingdom version of Hillwood looked like...

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With that, the first chapter is up! What do you guys think? There will be more of this story, so don't miss out! Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!


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